


Chocolate Skies

by winterawaits



Category: Sex Education (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-18 11:01:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19333228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterawaits/pseuds/winterawaits
Summary: Where Maeve Wiley fails to put up walls in front of her classmate, Ivy Hall.





	1. Complex Female Characters

Ivy Hall for a fact did not really enjoy school. But it wasn’t also a waste of time for her, she knew it was important. That is why she put up with it. She found people in school stupid, at least the ones she happened to observe or talk to. There were always exceptions though. Aimee Gibbs for example, was a good friend of hers, but Ivy did not really understand why she hung out with that ‘Mean Girls’ bunch. Well Aimee had another friend who Ivy was highly intrigued by. Maeve Wiley.

Ivy never had talked to Maeve and she was not one to initiate herself. She totally believed in not forcing things to happen, or maybe that was just a nervous excuse. Another reason was that people always disappointed her. They opened their mouths and Ivy had always realized that she had put them at a comparatively higher spot than they actually deserved to be at. Ivy was kind of reluctant to let that happen in the case of Maeve Wiley.

She had spotted the girl occasionally smuggle her notes and essays for some money.

“Don’t open your mouth about it, Hall,” Maeve had hissed at her when she noticed she was caught doing that. The brunette girl just gave Maeve an amused smile in return.

It was the beginning of a new session and Maeve had dyed her hair pink this time. It suited her. Ivy however had made no change to her raven black hair, often just plainly putting it up in a ponytail. She preferred a rather modest presentation for herself, her clothes varied from yellow to the darkest colours and she did not care if it complimented her brown skin or not, despite all that her mother told her. Purple never made it to her wardrobe, it stayed only in her accessory box.

Nevertheless, she always carried a paperback of some fiction novel with her and spiral notebooks to take notes down. Although she did carry earphones with her, she rarely used them. It took her away from the present moment, Ivy believed.

“They’ve decided to go vegan now,” Aimee told her one day while they sat in the school field, “It’s not that bad of a choice though.”

“But you don’t want to, do you?” asked Ivy.

“Yeah, and I’m not going vegan. We’ll just have lunch separately now.”

“I don’t get your friends”, Ivy mumbled.

“Yeah, I don’t get them myself at times”, replied Aimee with a sigh, “But I have you and Maeve for friends, and that’s good”.

This made Ivy smile. “I broke up with Adam”, informed Aimee, picking up her things to leave for class.

“Yeah, after what he did, that was expected.”

“There’s a party at my house tomorrow, 5 pm onward. You’ll be there, won’t you?”

“Yeah,” Ivy smiled at the girl, “I’ll be there.”

 

* * *

 

  
Aimee’s house bloomed up with assholes and other people as Ivy stood in a corner enjoying her Coca Cola thoroughly. She avoided alcohol for reasons best known to her. Aimee was busy being a good host and that’s why Ivy Hall was kind of alone, not that she resented it a bit. People did not really approach her, and she never cared to wonder why. But at the party, she saw something peculiar; she saw Maeve walking around a bunch of people playing pool, and Ivy heard her say – “In-depth sex advice. No charge, one night only.”

But one of the assholes bummed her out saying, “Is it true your whole family is in prison?” Maeve pursed her lips and walked out of the room, and Ivy couldn’t resist the urge to check up on the punk girl.

It did not surprise Ivy when she told the boy who called Maeve out to shut his shithole of a mouth. Walking out of that room, she saw Jackson Marchetti talking to her..

“What is your _thing_ then?” he asked Maeve.

“Complex female characters,” she stated, and met eyes with Ivy who gave her a smirk and moved away soon. What did surprise Ivy though was the fact that Maeve Wiley did make her a little nervous. _Complex female characters._

“I don’t know who to be around”, she said when she walked up to Aimee, who had a lot of stuff in her hands, literally. Ivy took some and continued, “So I’ll walk around with you, help you maybe.”

“Really? That’s uncommon coming from you, are you not enjoying your own company?”

“There are a lot of people interrupting my comfort zone, and I am human, I also need friends at times,” Ivy smiled innocently.

“Well I appreciate your help. Adam is also trying to get in, but that’s not the point. The point is, you need more friends. Why don’t you talk to Maeve sometime?”

Ivy rolled her eyes. Obviously that would come up and she did not like not having answers to certain questions. “Well,” she started and ended with a shurg, “I don’t know.”

“Seriously Ivy”, rambled Aimee, “I don’t get the both of you. She does the same thing, when I tell her to talk to you when she could clearly use more friends. And it’s not like you both wouldn’t complement each other. You have such harmonising personalities, I don’t get why the both of you are so stubborn.”

Ivy gawked for a while but stopped that soon. Aimee was expectantly looking at her.

“Here, have a drink”, the host girl said as she handed her a glass of Coca Cola. “Don’t worry, it’s not alcohol.”

Ivy gulped it down. “Your task today, Hall,” said Aimee, “is to talk to Maeve Wiley. Got it?”

Ivy nodded and went off as Aimee patted her back. She sighed with a smile as she saw her friend go off, proud of herself. The two oblivious friends of hers could actually use each other’s company. Now, she only had to deal with the Adam problem.

Maeve was sitting in the stairs outside of Aimee’s house, just looking out into nothing. She wasn’t observing anyone, though people were scattered in the garden, she was just looking. With subtle steps, Ivy sat next to her which made Maeve give her a glance before staring back into nothing.

“Need some sex advice, Hall?” she asked, now looking at the brunette girl, “I know you heard me back there.”

“Yeah, yeah I heard you. But no, I don’t need sex advice. I just came here to talk.”

“I don’t need a chit-chat, really,” she rolled her eyes.

“Well, not a chit-chat but I’m sure you can use some talk and good company,” said Ivy with a gentle smirk now fully looking at her. The pink-haired girl’s eyes had elusive bags under them and she really looked sad, it was written in her smile.

Maeve averted her eyes, the brunette girl sitting beside her had a solid gaze. She had never found it hard to make eye contact with anyone before her. “Yeah, guess I could.” She kind of trusted the girl, maybe because Ivy was a friend of Aimee. Maybe because her presence was comforting, her gaze made her feel heard.

“So then, Maeve Wiley, how is your night going?”

 

* * *

 

The night was spent at Aimee’s house, and Ivy wondered if the remaining party did actually sleep or not. As for her and Meave and Aimee, they surely did not sleep. They talked a lot, her and Maeve and none of them got bored of the other. For most of the time, they walked around the garden, discussing which element they think they were (Maeve thought she was air and Ivy believed she was water), talking about literature (mostly she listened as Maeve talked on about Jane Austen), and Maeve also happened to let it slide that she hooked up with Jackson, twice. Why Jackson, Ivy did not understand but it was just a hook-up anyway.

But then, Aimee needed their help as Adam Groff caused trouble. Ivy sat out with Aimee while Maeve went off with her friend Otis. And it was morning soon, and Ivy found Maeve again.

“Can I walk you home?” she asked the Jane Austen fanatic. Ivy was finding surprising elements in herself, she could only imagine how surprising it would have been for the other girl.

Maeve smiled at that, tilted her head down, and looked back up again at the brunette girl. Somehow, after all they talked about throughout the night, she still found it hard to look into Ivy’s eyes.

“Nah”, she smiled, remembering to be honest with the girl, “Not this soon, Hall.” She did that, she never lied to the people she liked or admired or saw herself inviting into her life in the future. Well, hiding stuff was different, it was not lying. And she was not yet ready to invite the girl fully into her life. _Anticipation._ Maeve did not know for what.

Ivy nodded at her with a smile, accepting what the girl had said. “See you around, Maeve.”

“Yeah, see you around.”


	2. Fictional Novels

Maeve Wiley had been on casual talking terms with Ivy Hall. The brunette girl tried her best to not let any awkwardness come in between them, because Maeve was laid-back as hell with her, but she was not as much. On analysing it, Ivy realised this was because Maeve had thoroughly opened up to her and she in turn, hadn’t shared much detail about her life. But it was okay, because Ivy was secretive, and being secretive was cool. But she knew she would pour out herself if someone asked, rightly.  _ Maybe Maeve did not want to know _ , she thought. This bothered her a bit because she had found the pink-haired girl enthralling. And no, that wasn't a dramatic adjective to describe her..

One morning a few days after Aimee’s party, Ivy saw Maeve Wiley with their English teacher, Miss Sands.

“I need to talk to you about your  _ As You Like It  _ Essay”, she overheard Miss Sands say. “Interesting use of alliteration and quite a complex understanding of Shakespeare’s ability to penetrate the male psyche.”

“Thanks. But what?” Maeve asked, the colour on her face faded a bit, only noticeable to the observant eye.

“It’s similar to Simone’s. Very similar, Maeve. Why don’t you put some effort into your work? I really don’t think you should be copying Simone’s. Please do not get yourself kicked out of school, it would be colossal waste of everyone’s time.”

Maeve rolled her eyes so hard at that Ivy thought they’d be displaced from their sockets. “Aren’t you supposed to say something encouraging?” she asked out loud as Miss Sands started to move away.

“Shine brighter!” the teacher shouted out with fake enthusiasm. Although Miss Sands was the only teacher she admired at school, Ivy realised at times she could be thick as hell. She wanted to go to her and ask her if she even knows Maeve Wiley, to have such a big misconception about her. Prejudices and facades, going hand in hand, could be blinding. But Maeve needed her more at the moment.

Ivy increased her pace to catch up to the Jane Austen fanatic. “Want some chocolates, Maeve?”

“I only eat dark, Hall,” she replied as she reduced her pace. Having Ivy next to her now was a bit of a relief.

“Really? I happen to have just that,” Ivy said as Maeve stopped and turned to her. She smiled at the girl, making Maeve smile back and take the chocolate.

“The day is proceeding miserably,” whined Maeve.

“Want to grab a soothing drink later maybe, and vent it all out?” she asked as she tilted her head slightly. The strands of her hair swiftly fell off her face as she blinked her eyebrows. Her gaze was still captivating, piercing, but not in a threatening way. Maeve looked away and pondered, maybe she could ask Ivy to accompany her to the abortion later. She was the safest person by far. Something held Maeve back though, and she knew it was the same  _ anticipation.  _ But why? She did not know the answer.

“I’m doing something today,” Maeve spoke, averting her gaze to the floor and putting a pink strand of ear behind her ear. “Maybe some other time?”

Her eyes looked a bit guilty. Ivy wasn’t sure if guilt did belong there, but she knew Maeve was hiding something. Ivy did not push the topic, her ordinances about not forcing things to happen always took better of her instincts.  _ Because instincts were not always right, _ she told herself,  _ they were not gut feelings, they were animal and untamed _ .

“Yeah, sure,” she smiled, taking a piece of the dark chocolate and letting Maeve have the rest as the bell rang. “See you around.”

Maeve wanted so bad to tell her, to cling to her. But her fears were inspired by past experiences and they were not entirely irrational.

 

* * *

 

Before leaving for school, Ivy met up with Miss Sands to collect her English assignment. She had written about Harper Lee’s debut,  _ To Kill A Mockingbird. _

“Quite an interesting approach. I did not expect to see such a rendition of a review about the same old novel, and your comments on Harper Lee’s writing style are intriguing, and aberrant.”

“Thank you, Miss Sands,” she replied.

“I am sure you are aiming to get in one from the Ivy League, aren’t you Ivy?” Miss Sands asked as she attempted a joke. Ivy found the effort amusing and chuckled before Miss Sands said, “Bad joke, I know. Couldn’t help it.”

“Yes, ma’am I am aiming for that indeed. And I am sure so are some others, and they really need a bit of a push.”

Miss Sands gave her a blank look, she did not understand her. “Okay, look.” Ivy started, “I am going to be cryptic in what I have to say but I am sure you would understand. I… If I were you I would put more of my trust in a student like  _ her _ and make a way to give her the credit she deserves. She is really smart, you know, she masks herself well that is all. And, I don’t blame her for trying it her way to survive and thrive. Though, I would surely admire her for trying so hard.”

Miss Sands looked at her dumbfounded. She observed how the brunette girl was solid in her demeanour then, meaning and trusting every word she said. How calm and resilient she was at that moment. The teacher knew she was talking about Maeve Wiley and knew very well what she was trying to explain.

“I, I was just hoping you would not underestimate, or misunderstand her”, Ivy added, now shifting at the silence.

“I… I will surely look into the matter, and try my best,” Miss Sands said. Ivy smiled at her and nodded, then took her leave. She knew she did the right thing because she could not stand how Miss Sands spoke to her. It was pinching her, but now even after sorting things out a bit, she was at a dis-ease. She was hoping Miss Sands would not tell Maeve about what she had said to her, she was not sure how the fiery girl would react if she knew.

 

* * *

 

 

  
The clinic was depressing, and trying too hard to be cheerful. The loud lady next to her did not help at all and Maeve was frustrated. After school, she had asked Otis to meet her here at 6:30 pm and he was running late.  _ Ivy wouldn't have been late _ , she thought,  _ if she had asked her to come. _

Otis entered then, in a suit and it further frustrated her, though the poor thing was just clueless and trying. He thought they'd be going somewhere fancy, she sighed. She was craving that comfort she had on some days. The one she had when she lied curled up in her bed with the lamp on, reading Jane Austen or Virginia Woolf, or when she had a full bar of dark chocolate in one go leaving behind the aftertaste, or when she was walking around with Ivy Hall with a smile tugging at her face.

As she held hands with the loud (yet now sweet) lady before the abortion, she imagined it to be Ivy's hand. It was weird, how the brunette had not even touched Maeve once, yet she emitted off such tender, soothing vibes.

Lying in the hospital bed after the abortion, Maeve thought about what she had just gone through. Even the other women, who had family or close friends here with them, had to go through this alone in here. She then thought about Ivy. And she knew it was dangerous to think about her so. What was it that was pulling the brunette back to her thoughts again and again? Maybe her mind was just deceiving her. She had expected her heart to be stone by now, but it wasn't. It was very much silk as she imagined Ivy's strong gaze on her. She  _ needed  _ a friend, a confidant, someone to be vulnerable with, and strangely though she had only known her for such a short span of time, Ivy fit perfectly in those places in her mind.

Life is an engulfing fictional novel, she affirmed to herself before walking out of the white-walled room.


End file.
